New trend - the knuckle rings

What do you think of this new jewellery trend? Do you like knuckle rings? Everybody seems to make them! Do you see many girls wearing them, though? How new is this trend anyway?

Diamond knuckle ring
(more knuckle rings on etsy)

Looks like it was around since the 15th century! We just cannot invent anything new in jewellery trends, can we? :)

Wealthy people (not just women) wore them to show that they they did not need to work with their own hands. This is exactly why I cannot wear them. I use my hands way to often and I am afraid to loose the knuckle rings. I guess, I have nothing to be proud of! :)

Here are a couple of pictures with the close-up hands for you to look at the knuckle rings that were worn 500 years ago: 

1:

Swabian master (Southern Germany) (XV c.). Portrait of a woman from a family of Hofer (c. 1480) (London, National Gallery)

Close-up:

2:

Sibylla Sambetha, 1480. Oil on oak panel painting by Hans Memling

Close-up:

Do you wear knuckle rings? If you do not, would you wear them?

Kokoshnik keeps taking over the world fashion!

If you find my "Bead Day" section and scroll down you will see that I've published a few kokoshniks already. Kokoshnik is often decorated with a lot of beads. Kokoshnik is one of the Russian symbols in fashion that takes over the world fashion sometimes! Do you remember this and other kokoshniks by Karl Lagerfeld? 

That was not the first time when when it was trending. Kokoshniks have been worn at the beginning of the 20th century till the 1930th. They were the tiaras in a shape of a kokoshnik. Not only princesses wore them! It was a trendy headdress for all women!

They were worn by the actresses too, of course:

Gloria Swanson

Kokoshnik is a great wedding accessory, therefore it was worn by the brides also: 

Bridal portrait, c. 1920.

The most precious tiaras in a shape of a kokoshnik belonged to those who could afford them (of course!) This kokoshnik-tiara belonged to the empress Alexandra:

It is still around... Guess who got it!

This Russian fashion had been really big before it has arrived to Europe together with the Russian immigrants after the revolution in 1917. 

Grand duchess Elizabeth

I love this picture:

Robert Lefevre, 1817

This one is nice too:

Konstantin Makovsky
(more pictures)

What I find really interesting is that there is a big choice of kokoshniks on Etsy! Well... relatively big choice :)

How about this one?

Gold Crystal Pearl 'Golden Regina' Kokoshnik

More kokoshniks on Etsy

Awesome pin-board with lots of kokoshniks

Jewellery history. Snake bracelets

Do you like snake rings and bracelets? I love them! I did not make any so far... thinking that it was a too easy idea. It sure was! :) They keep coming back in fashion again and again. Here is a gorgeous modern snake bracelet, for example:

This one of a kind Weny Yue pave ruby snake cuff is accented with white opals and diamonds set in 18kt blackened white gold.

Snake bracelets were really big in the 19th century. Jewellery designers got a great inspiration for their creations when archaeologists started finding ancient gold Roman and Egyptian jewellery. The fashionistas of the 19th century wanted the replicas of the ancient jewellery, of course! 

Not all jewellery were the replicas, they were more "inspired" by the ancient style rather than replicated. You can find many examples in Internet if you search for Classical revival jewellery or Roman revival jewellery or Egyptian revival jewellery.

Jewellers did not make the snake jewellery only, of course. You can find many other samples too. My blog post would be too long if I tried to show all most common types of the revival jewellery of that time. So I will stick to just my favorite type of jewellery for that period, that is snakes :)

Gold snake bangle-bracelet, last quarter 19th century

Victorian Gold Serpent Bracelet

VICTORIAN sterling and cut coral beads coil bangle in the form of a Chinese dragon serpent with ruby eyes

VICTORIAN yellow gold snake bracelet with garnet cabochons and faceted garnet eyes, etched design on snake's head, double hinged

This is probably the most famous snake bracelet by Lalique. It is absolutely the best, don't you think?

Snake bracelet and ring designed for Sarah Bernhardt ca.1899

In case you are wondering what clothes the snake jewellery was worn with... Nothing specially made for them, just whatever was in fashion:

Yulia V. Telyakovskii, 1848 State Hermitage Museum
Picture by Gavriil Yakovlev

These are real ancient snake bracelets that have given the inspiration to the jewellers. They are not as fantastic as the later variations! 

Gold bracelet in the form of a coiled snake, 1st Century AD, Roman, Pompei

A ROMAN GOLD SNAKE BRACELET CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

The rings are quite exquisite:

Roman gold snake rings, c. 1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.

Jewellery history. Mustard seed jewellery

I am always searching for the interesting topics on the jewelry history subject. I looked here and there and found (somewhere) a mention of the mustard seed jewelry. It looked like granulated jewelry at the first glance, so I did not expect to find a story behind it... At least a story of granulation that would be different from the one I have already written in my blog here. 

CORO Vintage Mustard Seed Earrings 1950s Jewelry

Symbolic "mustard seeds" can be represented with the tiny gold granulation in the jewelry pieces. However, there is a wide variety of jewelry pieces that contain actual mustard seeds. FYI, the seeds look like tiny yellow spheres 1-2 mm in diameter. 

Why do people want to wear the mustard seeds?  The mustard seeds are a symbol of faith, as they are mentioned in the Bible a few times. Those tiny little granules grow to become a tree that is up to 20 feet tall and 20 feet wide. It also grows in dry hot weather. The mustard seeds are the best symbols of faith because of this. You can read more about it in wikipedia. 

Faith Mustard Seed Miniature Bottle

It looks like the mustard seeds have become a jewelry trend about two hundred years ago during the Victorian era. However, they were most likely worn in the glass vials before. The next time they have become popular was the 1940 's during the World War two, when people needed a strong symbol of hope. The mustard seed jewelry stayed popular till the 1960's.

It is not a big fashion trend now. However, the mustard seed jewelry will always be popular among people who like jewelry with the meaning. It is still a symbol of hope, faith and good luck. You can find many designs to chose from, either modern or vintage. 

 Mustard Seed Necklace All Things Are Possible

Coral accessories and jewellery of the 19th century

In my previous jewellery history blog post you saw flower hair accessories that were popular in the 19th century. There were other accessories that were very popular at the same time. Corals were used for making hair pins and jewellery.

I love this one! An accessory like this can make me regretting I am not from the 19th century myself!

Sarra, Tolstoy's daughter

This type of a comb is called Josephine after Napoleon's wife. She liked coral jewellery too!

Victorian Coral & Tortoiseshell Hair Pin

Jacques-Louis David. The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte. 1821

The corals have become a popular souvenir from Italy in the 19th century, supposedly after 1815 year when the Napoleon's wars stopped and people could travel again. 

Here are a few of the necklaces that I like:

A Victorian coral cameo necklace with an amazing coral and gold chain.

Antique Carved Coral and Black Onyx Bead Necklace

Antique Chinese Natural Coral Carved Flower Bead Drop Sterling Necklace ~ Salmon

Could not pass by this cameo too. Isn't it gorgeous?

Coral cameo Goddess Flora
Material: Momo Coral (Cerasuolo), 18K gold marked, diamonds.
Date and Origin: Late 1800's, early 1900's.

Jewellery history. Flower jewellery

Do you like jewelry that replicates flowers? I do! I do not make any, as it is just not something I like making of metal, but I love it when it actually looks like flowers, and made of silk, for example. There is also a modern material that is good for it and that is called polymer clay. Those are nice too.

The 19th century is known by flower jewelry and accessories. Women had them made of fabric, wax, porcelain and precious metals (if they could afford it). They wore real flowers too! There are many portraits of women wearing flower accessories in the 19th century.

Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III and empress of France (1853–70)

The flower fashion was started by the Empress Eugenie, but then went global! This piece can be found at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts:

Woman's headdress French,
worn in America
mid-19th century

Her is just one sample of diamond tiara from the 19th century:

Natural pearl and diamond tiara, late 19th century

We do not wear flower accessories like the women of the 19th century. Now you can see real (or not so real) flowers in the brides' hair only. I had some in my hair on my wedding day too! :) Something like this:

Flower hair comb by GentleDecisions

Crescent hair pins are in again!

Have you seen this awesome hair pin by Chanel already? This is not the only sample (see my pinboard below for more pictures). 

I personally love all of them! This is so classy... and classic! Really, it is hard to come up with an awesome fashion jewelry style that did not exist already at some point.

Chanel Resort 2015

The crescent hair pins were in more than a hundred years ago!

Why were they so popular? What did they mean?

John Singer Sargent, Mrs. Mahlon Day Sands (Mary Hartpence) , 1893–1894

The MOON is sometimes thought of as female, mate to the male Sun. Keeper of the cycles and rhythms of time, nocturnal animals are associated with it. The archangel Gabriel is said to have as his abode the moon, and the crescent moon is one of the symbols of the goddess Isis. The moon also symbolizes death and rebirth in it's waxing and waning. (source) 

That was not the first time when the crescents were popular as jewelry pieces.

Do you know who else wore a crescent hair pin?

Artemis

Pinboard for the crescent hair pins and more:

Follow Natalia Khon's board hair pins on Pinterest.

Are you trying to be modern or old-fashioned?

Very modern, isn't it? You can find them for just a few cents or you can spend hundreds of dollars and get a ring made of gold and diamonds. You will look hip, fashionista and contemporary...

Predator rings

... and very much old fashioned too!

Chinese Queen CiXi ( 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908)) – Qing Dynasty

Nail rings look great with the traditional Chinese gowns! :)
Just kidding! Who remembers this now?! :) 

Jewellery history. Multiple ear piercing

I have come across this curious article (it is in Italian, so you will need to use an automated translation to read it). In case you had multiple piercing and thought you were modern... In fact, you are very much old-fashioned! :) The lady in the picture is Infanta Maria of Guimarães (12 August 1538 – 7 September 1577) was a Portuguese princess. 

She was not the only one who had multiple ear piercing! Follow the link above to the original article and you will find more portraits of the ladies who lived at the same time.

Interesting how it works... You know how people see some star wearing something and everybody wants it? That never worked for me. However, knowing that that was a style of a medieval princess... makes me regret that I do not have multiple piercing like this! :)

Kokoshnik that tells a story...

While pinning my previous post onto my pinterest board, I've come across this picture. I tried to find the original web-site for it... but I could not figure it out... However, this lady is worth mentioning :) This is probably the most famous Russian ballerina of all times. Her name is Anna Pavlova.

This is her costume for her Russian Dance. There is a little bit of her bio here. I do not think there is a good reason for copying it...

Interesting enough, there are videos of her dancing on youtube! Not in this costume, alas... Evidently, she was famous for her Dying Swan dance. Here is a short video of it:

What is Russian kokoshnik?

Peter the Great's (1672-1725) attempts to Westernize Russia were partially manifested in changes to the traditional costume of the court. Though they were not required by law to adhere to the reformations, the peasant class commonly adopted aspects of Western styles blended with folk dress. This headdress in particular is an excellent example of the melding of cultures found in Russian history. The shape of this headdress is nearly identical to a French style from Alsace illustrated in Auguste Racinet's "The Complete History of Costume". This type of crossover is characteristic of the evolution of Russian dress. Married women were required to cover their hair entirely lest they be considered immodest, therefore headdresses, or kokoshniks were often accompanied by a venchik, a forehead covering made of fabric or metal.

The picture and text is from The Metropolitan Museum web-site. I have found it very interesting that something like this can be found in the North America! Definitely should go see it if I am ever making it there!

Chain Maille

Chain maille has been being a popular technique for making jewelry since the 18th century. Though, I wondered when it was invented. I found out that the first chain mailles were found in Europe and dated the 3rd or even the 2nd century AD. The jump rings were about 10 to 12 gauge and about a centimeter inside diameter.

The most common technique was welding some jump rings and connecting them by the open ones that were riveted. Sounds like a lot of work! Then the whole thing was sewed on a leather base. They still use chain maille in bullet-proof jackets or for butchers’ gloves.

There were not many patterns for the body armors, though people came up with lots of weaves for chain maille jewellery. There are many magazines, books and web-sites where anybody can learn how to make an interesting accessory made of dozens or even hundreds of jump rings.

I keep testing new techniques and styles. I’ve tried this one too. I like the result and must admit that this is addictive… :)

Chain maille bracelet

Bauhaus

Bauhaus is an art movement that was popular 1919 to 1933 in Germany. The idea was to bring together arts and mass produced goods that needed to be functional, affordable and good looking. As a result, Bauhaus style was applied mostly to interior design, furniture, industrial design and architecture.

There was a parallel movement Vkhutemas in Russia. It was a larger school, though less known outside of the Soviet Union. The ideas of Bauhaus were so influential, that we can see the results of that study till now days: buildings, furniture and appliances often have Bauhaus design that is very geometrical, simple and modern looking.

Very few pieces of jewellery made in Bauhaus design can be found. Of course, as jewellery design students we needed to get enough inspiration from industrial designs to come up with a piece of wearable art!

We watched a video and went to a library. We went through books that had visual art pictures and architecture… As always during such projects I was very excited to see other students’ works. Though learning together and constantly communicating we managed to come up with so different jewellery designs, I was always amazed!

Once, a friend of mine looked at this picture of my project and said that she liked that “key”. It was too late… it was a couple years after my graduation… Too bad, I did not make that piece into a key. That would be the exact reflection of what a Bauhaus piece of jewellery should be… something functional, yet good looking! There would be even better feedback from my teacher too… :)